Reshmi Banerjee
Today’s fast-paced techno-savvy society has
drained us of our empathy and affection. Having forgotten the simple
pleasures of life, we have become slaves of consumerism. Like a dry
sponge, our materialistic hearts crave to soak in more and more of
what we know not. In these harrowing times of greed, violence and
hatred, Dhiraj Choudhury has endeavoured to focus our attention on
love — that beautiful, invaluable and eternal emotion and yet so
easy to give and get if we are sincere enough.“Mother and Child”

Out to revive glory of classical music
Parbina RashidMore than the purity of her voice, it is the glow of
self-enrichment and her wholehearted dedication that gives an
appealing aura to Shikha Ganguly, the accomplished practitioner of
Hindustani classical music. Shikha visited Chandigarh recently to
perform at a monthly baithak programme at Pracheen Kala Kendra.

AUDIO SCAN
Suresh Wadkar as composer
ASCDil Churaya Aap Ne (Polygram): There was a time when
Suresh Wadkar was hot property as a singer. Then something went wrong
and he lost out to new voices. His own talent was undiminished; it is
just that offers stopped flowing in. It was pathetic to hear his voice
in promotional jingles instead of films.

On the election trail
Amita MalikThis column is being filed on the first day of the
actual voting in Punjab. But the curtain-raisers in the form of
election specials, coverage of different states, candidates, analyses
of important factors and daring forecasts started some time ago. And
now, we are in the thick of it.

Today’s fast-paced techno-savvy society has
drained us of our empathy and affection. Having forgotten the simple
pleasures of life, we have become slaves of consumerism. Like a dry
sponge, our materialistic hearts crave to soak in more and more of
what we know not. In these harrowing times of greed, violence and
hatred, Dhiraj Choudhury has endeavoured to focus our attention on
love — that beautiful, invaluable and eternal emotion and yet so
easy to give and get if we are sincere enough.

"Colours of
Love" seeks to explore the various facets of love and its many
manifestations, including the dark side of this emotion out of which
springs pride, jealousy and conflict. This thematic show is an
extension of the painter’s earlier exhibition, "Love at the
Threshold of the New Millennium", held at Kumar Art Gallery, New
Delhi, at the end of the past century. Since them, the new millennium
has witnessed several tragedies\ arising out of natural calamities
like the Gujarat earthquake or technical failures like the Concorde
accident in Paris or worse the disastrous events of September 11 in
the USA arising out of hatred, not to mention the subsequent war in
Afghanistan. Being a socially perceptive painter, these events have
disturbed Dhiraj immensely — so much so that he has gone back to the
subject of love again and again.

Thus, "love" dominated his
paintings exhibited in the Millennium Festival at St Albans, UK, and
travelling exhibitions at Upsala, Sweden and St Petersburg, Florida,
USA, in the year 2000 as also a mural of coloured tiles executed and
installed in the south of France, Villevielle.

In 2001, Dhiraj was
invited to Hertfordshire, UK, to curate an exhibition and art
workshops on the theme love under the Sights and Sounds of Asia
project, initiated by the St Albans Community Centre and "Care,
Creativity and Communication". An interactive workshop of
different members of the British and Asian communities was held in
which participants included people from an old age home, physically
challenged persons, art and general students, schoolchildren and
working women. The primary objective of this workshop was to
re-establish the value of love among people of different backgrounds.
The end result was an exhibition of their works at Margart Harsvery
Art Gallery in St Albans which was highly appreciated by the public
and press.

After the Hertfordshire workshop, Dhiraj travelled to
Germany where four weeks of interaction with German society and
culture culminated into a solo exhibition of paintings on the same
theme.

In Dhiraj’s present show, "Colours of Love", the
essential medium is acrylic paint on canvas. Basic primary colours
have been used with small tints of wash while there are areas of
blended pigments to balance the colour combinations.

Due to the
predominance of primary colours, the paintings appear bright and
vibrant. Drawing being Dhiraj’s forte, there is a strong presence of
linear and bold lines that go to make the shapes and forms. To reach
the depths of the viewer’s heart and convey the message of love, the
artist relies on simple subjects like "man and woman",
"mother and child", "clowns" or elements of nature
like trees, flowers, foliage, animals, birds and
butterflies.

Included in this exhibition is a large painting,
"My Sweet Lord" which is dedicated to the late Beatle
guitarist George Harrison who looked towards the East, India to be
precise, for musical and philosophical inspiration. Behind a
background of warm colours like yellow, orange, vermillion and mauve,
there is a white form of Lord Krishna playing the flute while Gopis
from the east and west listen to the rapturous musical sound of
universal love. This work is mentioned particularly because in terms
of concept and visualisation, it stands out from the rest of the
compositions painted on the theme of love.

The other work which
merits a mention due to its uniqueness in style and content is "Shahjahan"
in which the great Mughal emperor and his queen are depicted. Shah
Jahan expressed love for his wife Mumtaz Mahal through an enchanting
and incomparable architectural marvel aptly described as a "poem
in marble". For this exhibition, the painter made a special trip
to Agra just to include a sketch of the Taj Mahal to enrich the show
and add an extra dimension of interest to it. In this colourless,
black and white depiction of the monument, one can notice the familiar
free flowing lines which characterise Dhiraj’s skilful drawings.

Dhiraj
believes that amid the pressures and tensions arising from
modernisation, it is love and only love that can build bridges between
men alienated by geographical, political, religious or economic
barriers. The joy of material possession is after all a fleeting
experience and ultimately everything returns to dust. Only love is
everlasting and can lead us towards God and Truth.

Dhiraj’s
exhibition titled "Colours of Love" begins at Kumar Gallery,
New Delhi, on February 22.

More than the purity of her voice, it is the glow of
self-enrichment and her wholehearted dedication that gives an
appealing aura to Shikha Ganguly, the accomplished practitioner of
Hindustani classical music. Shikha visited Chandigarh recently to
perform at a monthly baithak programme at Pracheen Kala Kendra.

So
much is her devotion towards music is that she left her lucrative job
as a senior lecturer because she could not stand the farce of teaching
something as serious as classical music to a class, within the
restricted framework.

"What I learnt after spending two years in
masters’ degree and a brief stint of research, was that classical
music is not something that can be learnt through time-bound formal
education," says Shikha. "The education system here teaches
at least 20 ragas in two years whereas the truth is that it takes
years of hardwork and dedication to master even a single one,"
she adds.

An advocate of the "guru-shishya" tradition,
Shikha has set up a school named "Sur Mandir" in New Delhi.
"This is my humble effort to revive the glory of Hindustani
classical music through the young generation," says Shikha.

Though
the pop culture has invaded our territory forcing classical music to
take a back seat, Shikha is sure that the glitter of western culture
will soon fizzle out and the new generation will come back to
classical music. "The students these days are a lot more smarter
than us and to accept anything without proper justification,"
says Shikha. "But they are under so much of pressure to excel in
everything they do that a wholehearted approach has become a rare
commodity," she quips.

One cannot help getting mesmerised as she
narrates the most memorable event of her life when she got a head
injury in an accident that left her bedridden for quite sometime. Yet
she went on to perform at Hari Das Sangeet Sammelan against doctor’s
advice.

Shikha started her journey about 20 years ago under the
tutelage of Pandit Mani Prasad of the famous Kirana Gharana after she
completed her masters’ in Hindustani classical music from Delhi
University. An approved artiste for All-India Radio and Doordarshan,
Shikha has performed all over the world. She has been to England,
France, Germany, Nepal, Belgium, Netherlands and Luxemburg.

In India,
she has participated in almost all prestigious musical concerts, like
Swami Hari Das Sangeet Sammelan, Mumbai and Mathura, Tansen Music
Festival, Jaipur, Navarang Kala Parishad, Jaipur and many more. Shikha
has been awarded with the title "Surmani" by Sur Sringar
Samsad, Mumbai, "Kalashree" by Navrang Kala Parishad, Jaipur
and "Suroshree" by Ahom Sangeet Sewa Sangathan,
Guwahati.

Her 20-year association with music has given her a command
over the ragas with which she can easily attain the position of an
accomplished artiste in the field of Hindustani classical music. When
she combines her sweet voice with the expertise she has attained over
the years, it gives an intrinsic mystic quality to her compositions
that leaves the audience spellbound.

But for Shikha, the journey has
just started. "The journey to the core of Hindustani music is an
infinite one, because it’s inherent enigma, and fluidity beyond
anybody’s grasp," says Shikha. One cannot master it in one
lifetime but only be a part of the intrinsic mystic element that this
kind of music exudes," she adds.

Dil Churaya Aap Ne (Polygram): There was a time when
Suresh Wadkar was hot property as a singer. Then something went wrong
and he lost out to new voices. His own talent was undiminished; it is
just that offers stopped flowing in. It was pathetic to hear his voice
in promotional jingles instead of films.

After all these years, he
has staged a comeback of sorts, but it is not as a singer. Instead, he
has done this film as a composer. Unfortunately, the music is not out
of the ordinary. What does go to his credit is that he has made good
use of his classical base. Folk tunes also dominate. Secondly, there
is a lot of variety in the album.

Rest
of the numbers like Ye hai Mumbai nagari... (Kavita
Krishnamurthy, Udit Narayan) and O sundari... are run of the
Bollywood mill.

Rani Malik, Dev Kohli and Naqsh Lyallpuri have penned
these lyrics.

Tumko Na Bhool Payenge (T-Series): When a film
has Sushmita Sen and Diya Mirza as heroines, the music too is bound to
be femininity personified. Composers Sajid Wajid and Dabboo Malik have
woven their tracks around that theme.

Sadque Jaun (Venus): Uneven quality is the hallmark
of this album by Aroon Bakshi who is better recognised for his bit
roles in films and on TV. If folk number Ishq hi Rab hai ishq Khuda
hai... (written by Naini) is the pick of the lot, Tere naam ki
japoon main mala... (written by Tejpal Kaur) reminds you of
Sufiana singing, although only faintly.

This column is being filed on the first day of the
actual voting in Punjab. But the curtain-raisers in the form of
election specials, coverage of different states, candidates, analyses
of important factors and daring forecasts started some time ago. And
now, we are in the thick of it.

The coverage of the elections now
follows a definite pattern and there is little new one can say about
it. But since every channel is out to prove that it is the best,
perhaps it might be more interesting to review some of the programmes
which have already been aired and see which are the strong and weak
points of different channels.

Prannoy Roy of NDTV/Star News is
acknowledged to be top of the list as far as psephology goes and he
has his old team of Yogendra Yadav and Sorab Sopariwala, Mahesh
Rangarajan being abroad and missing this time. This panel has great
appeal for the educated elite as well and is trusted for its
detachment and integrity. The same goes for Prannoy’s old colleague,
Ashok Lahiri, now analysing for Sahara and his opinions are treated
with equal respect.

The panels with assorted experts tend to look
and sound the same and even quick change of clothes does not hide the
fact that the same people rush from panel to panel and channel to
channel and have become a colossal bore. Time they exercised some
self-restraint and channels persuaded experts from the states
concerned to phone in their comments.

Then comes the reportage,
particularly from the field. Eager beavers Aaj Tak (and their field
reporters look dishevelled, as if they are still covering Afghanistan)
try to get everything first and they certainly were first off the mark
with Varun Gandhi, first being shooed off but doggedly persisting and
getting the relaxed speech he made to begin with. Star News got a
brief interview later. Zee News, which tends to be a little slower but
more solid, got the first real in-depth programme on Manipur in their
Inside Story, their N.E. correspondent Mansoor Alam as thorough as
usual. And they had a shattering story on the choori (bangle) makers
of Muzzafarabad, as did NDTV on the brass traders of Moradabad and how
they are being slowly crushed out of existence.

What I always like
about NDTV/Star’s coverage are, first their 24 hours with a
candidate. I particularly enjoyed Arnab Goswami’s 24 hours with
Amarinder Singh, ending, after a helicopter ride and inching in cars
through dirty village lanes, with a royal family dinner by a roaring
log fire inside the palace now cleared of milling supporters. This was
supported by tireless field reportage from Punjab by Nalin Mehta.
Secondly, I always like the backgrounders on neglected areas,
neglected voters and forgotten backwaters. There are few
correspondents as insightful as Shikha Trivedi who brings out the most
horrifying stories with quiet facts which do not need dramatisation.
She has many competent young colleagues on her own channel as well as
other channels, but few can touch Shikha in experience and
insight.

Elections provide plenty of light touches and every channel
went to town on Govinda gyrating, Hema Malini straight out of a
saas-bahu serial as she introduced herself demurely as a
daughter-in-law of Punjab, while Preity Zinta dimpled prettily as she
said with a straight face that she had nothing to do with politics,
only friendship. Well, that is what Amitabh Bachchan also says and
throws in blood donations as well. I suppose we must believe them.
Laloo Yadav has no such inhibitions and always does his
not-so-innocent broken-English-lungi banian act to perfection and
keeps us entertained when things, like those accused of Jessica Lal’s
murder standing for election, plunge us to the depths. In the middle
of the election bedlam we had the arrest of Omar Sheikh the return of
Rahul Dravid, "Lagaan" getting into the last five foreign
Oscar nominations and other items of good news.